DARK LIGHT OF DAY (Noon Onyx #1) by Jill Archer-a review

DARK LIGHT OF DAY (Noon Onyx #1) by Jill Archer is set to release September 25, 2012.

Book blurb: Armageddon is over. The demons won. And yet somehow…the world has continued. Survivors worship patron demons under a draconian system of tributes and rules. These laws keep the demons from warring among themselves, the world from slipping back into chaos.

Noon Onyx grew up on the banks of the river Lethe, daughter of a prominent politician, and a descendant of Lucifer’s warlords. Noon has a secret—she was born with waning magic, the dark, destructive, fiery power that is used to control demons and maintain the delicate peace among them. But a woman with waning magic is unheard of and some will consider her an abomination.

Noon is summoned to attend St. Lucifer’s, a school of demon law. She must decide whether to declare her powers there…or attempt to continue hiding them, knowing the price for doing so may be death. And once she meets the forbiddingly powerful Ari Carmine—who suspects Noon is harboring magic as deadly as his own—Noon realizes there may be more at stake than just her life.

DARK LIGHT OF DAY is the introductory storyline in Jill Archer’s Noon Onyx series. Archer’s series focuses on the simmering truce between Angels and Demons 2000 years after Armageddon , and the destructive nature of the Maegester and their dark ‘waning’ magic. But for 21 year old Nouiomo Onyx (aka Noon) a reversal of fortunes has occurred at her birth-she was imbued with the dark waning magic (once only accorded to men) and her twin Nocturo (Night) was the waxing magic (once only accorded to women). Women were the creators not the destroyers. An embarrassment to her parents, Noon’s only recourse is to hide in plain sight.

Hoping to avoid her destiny as a future Maegester and the power to decide life or death for a demon, Noon must try to suppress her powers before she declares. But her powers have been recognized while away at Demon Law school by a demon hunter and a Maegester-in–training and her future choices could be fatal. But a friend is convinced he can help Noon.

Peter Aster is an angel and has been Noon’s bestfriend since childhood. Trying to keep Noon’s true identity a secret, Peter will risk everything to help his childhood friend including his family, his education and his friendship with Noon. But Peter’s revelations and his true feelings for Noon pushed Peter beyond his limitations.

Ari Carmine is a Maegester-in-training and with his waning magic he recognized Noon’s powers immediately. Hoping to come to an understanding, Ari gives Noon the option of declaring herself a Maegester before the people in power declare her death. Ari has ulterior motives for Noon’s declaration-his motives were personal. But a classroom assignment will pit Ari against Noon, and their attraction to one another could prove each other’s fall. 

Meanwhile, a rash of demon attacks has everyone on edge. When the truth about the attacks is finally revealed, Noon will have lost at friend, a client and possibly the love of her life.

The novel is divided into two sections. Winter and Spring. Winter reveals the darkness and magic that surrounds Noon, as well as the man who marks her as his own. Spring’s revelations will throw Noon into a world that she never thought would be possible-a world of love, of betrayal, of guilt and revelations.

DARK LIGHT OF DAY is a fascinating storyline. There is a phenomenal amount of back-story, information, and otherworldly terminology that at times had me confused, but once I got my head out of reviewer mode, I placed myself into the storyline and experienced the adrenalin and excitement first hand. The character development is smooth, but I kept waiting for the proverbial ‘other shoe to drop’. Jill Archer has created a dark world that will grab your attention from the very start.

LINKS TO ORDER
The Book Depository
Amazon Paper
Amazon Kindle
B&N Nook and Paper books

Copy supplied by Netgalley

Reviewed by Sandy